


Girl's Club

by liamthebastard



Series: let's write Sherlock [6]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: And Sally is growing on me, Crime-solving BFFS, Gen, I live a Molly Hooper Appreciation Life, Not Shippy, Screw the boys, slowly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-12
Updated: 2013-09-26
Packaged: 2017-12-26 08:33:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/963842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liamthebastard/pseuds/liamthebastard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sally has finally gotten a case all her own, free of any interference. But here's the thing- she hates to be alone. Enter one Molly Hooper, brilliant in her own right, and an adventure has started before Sherlock's even got his coat on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“But wait a minute, aren’t you gonna call in Holmes?” Sally demanded. Lestrade just glanced over his shoulder. 

“No. This one’s on you, Donovan.” And he left. 

Sally stared down at the file on her desk. Everything about this case _screamed_ Sherlock Holmes; it was a murder, committed behind _locked doors_. Yet, Lestrade had given it to her. She flipped through the paperwork, silently annoyed that, once again, Anderson had done the scene while nursing a hangover. A small part of her felt bad for him, but most of her cursed the fact that she’d ever helped him. Maybe if he’d woken up in his own vomit a few times instead of tucked neatly into bed while she scrubbed the floor he would’ve gotten himself together. Now he’d gotten some new girl to clean up after him; obviously she was doing it well, seeing as his clothes were always clean even while his red-rimmed eyes made obvious what had gone on the night before. 

She shook herself out of her reverie and started taking notes on her notepad, a trick she’d picked up from Lestrade but that she’d tailored to meet her own needs. Instead of using it to keep track of the finer points of Holmes’ rants, she made up a list of what she needed to do before truly investigating- check in at the morgue, go through the evidence herself, visit the scene, that sort of thing. First up was a trip to the morgue.

 

Molly pulled out the cadaver the detective had asked for. She didn’t often interact with Sergeant Donovan; usually it was Sherlock or the nice DI Lestrade who came down to glance over the corpses. In fact, this was the first time she’d had just the sergeant in the morgue. “So, um, this is him,” she said, tugging the sheet away from the face. Before she could say anything else, the sergeant started asking questions while she bent over the body.

“Cause of death?”

“Blunt force trauma to the ribs, one broke and punctured a lung,” Molly said quickly. The sergeant didn’t beat around the bush, but she didn’t seem as harsh as Sherlock could be sometimes. She seemed- tired. 

“Anything of note on the body?” Now the sergeant had a notebook out, with a pencil poised over, sorta like the DI did. 

“Nothing, he was completely clean. Not even any blood on him, even though I can _see_ the injuries that should’ve bled.” Molly frowned, it really bothered her that she couldn’t find a thing. There was a reason Sherlock went to her as a matter of preference, and it wasn’t because she was easy to manipulate. She was very good at what she did. She knew what he was trying to use her; she just also knew he was brilliant, and it was worth breaking a few rules to watch that mind work. 

Sergeant Donovan nodded a bit, scribbled something down, and straightened up. She started for the door, but paused. “Molly, what are you doing still here? It’s a weekend night,” she asked, glancing back. Molly shrugged.

“Don’t have anything else on,” she answered, covering the body up. 

 

Sally was having an idea. A terrible idea, but an idea nonetheless. Before she could think better of it, she spoke. “You could always come along,” she suggested. “As a consultant. Never know when you might catch something I don’t.” 

Truth be told, Sally hated working cases alone. She liked to be lead, to be able to piece things together and bring people some peace, but she hated to do it alone. And maybe working with another woman would be good for her. The boys’ club got more than a bit tiresome, and Molly seemed really interesting. 

Molly looked surprised, and she fiddled with her hair for a moment before answering “All right. I’ll just be a moment.” Sally nodded and waited while Molly straightened up the morgue and put away the cadaver. It occurred to her that the phrase “putting away the cadaver” should probably bother her a lot more than it did. This line of work did things to you.


	2. Chapter 2

“So, where are we going?” Molly asked as they left the morgue. She’d hung her white lab coat up in the lab, revealing the pink jumper and jeans she wore underneath. It made Sally feel uncomfortably overdressed for a moment, but then she reminded herself that she didn’t _actually_ owe Molly anything. It was actually kind of freeing; Sally didn’t have to worry about keeping tough or acting feminine, she just had to do her job.

“The family’s been notified, so we’re going to interview his wife,” Sally explained as she hailed a cab. She held the door for Molly who slid in across the bench seat while Sally settled herself on the other seat. 

“Um… what… what exactly happened? To him, I mean,” Molly asked. 

Sally grimaced. “Honestly, we’re not sure. His wife came home from a stay with her mother to find the entire place locked up. When she went inside, her husband was lying on his back in the center of the sitting room, already dead. She called us, and Lestrade gave it to me,” she explained. Molly sat for a minute, processing. 

“This is your first case on your own, isn’t it?” Molly said acutely, more like an observation than a question. Sally sighed. 

“That obvious?” Sally cursed to herself, she’d thought things were going well, but if Molly could tell she was new at this, surely everyone else would too.

“No, only you look a bit like I did the first time someone brought a body for me to autopsy.” Molly laughed a bit, good-naturedly, and Sally relaxed. “You don’t need to try so hard. It’s just me, and I’m not that hard to impress.” She chuckled again, and Sally gave a tentative smile. God, she was bad at this. How long had it been since she’d interacted with someone outside the team? Too long, apparently, seeing as she was making a fool of herself already. They sat in silence for a bit as the cab drove, before Molly asked another question. 

“Couldn’t the wife have done it? It wouldn’t have been hard, she could’ve locked up after,” Molly suggested. Sally shook her head.

“No, Lestrade already checked her alibi. Her train got in a half hour before she phoned the police; he was already at least three hours dead when we got there,” Sally answered. Molly nodded and Sally could practically see her adjusting her thoughts around the new fact. The cab jolted to a stop, and before Sally could pull out her wallet, Molly dropped the fare into the cabbie’s hands and started to climb out. 

“Don’t look like that, I’ll let you get the one home,” Molly said simply, putting her wallet back in her purse while she waited for Sally to get out of the cab. Sally made a mental note to do so, and then led the way up to the victim’s home. 

“The wife was a little emotional the last time I saw her, you might want to let me lead,” Sally whispered, forgetting that Molly wasn’t _actually_ investigating with her, she was just along for the ride. Molly noticed, but only smiled and nodded. The wife opened the door a moment later. “Hello, ma’am, I’m Sergeant Donovan from New Scotland Yard, this is my associate Moly Hooper, and I was hoping we could ask you just a few more questions about your husband,” Sally said, making it clear in her tone that it wasn’t a request. The wife ushered them in and offered them both drinks, which they declined.

“Ma’am, did your husband have anyone who might have wanted to hurt him?” Sally asked, pulling out her notepad in case something important came up.

“No, no, Stephen was really- really well liked,” the wife stammered. Sally nodded, but didn’t put pen to paper just yet, sensing something more was coming. The wife seemed to go back and forth in her mind for a moment before saying something more. “We-ell, there was one person… Martin Flanders, down the road? He and Stephen were always arguing, but I can’t imagine he’d do _anything_ like this…” Sally scribbled the name down, but doubted she’d use it. Something was off here, and she couldn’t quite say what. She asked a few more cursory questions –where Martin lived, if he worked and if so did she know where, that sort of thing– before leaving. She and Molly walked to the curb.

“We’re not going to go talk to that Martin man, are we?” Molly asked, again in that peculiar tone that made it sound like she already knew the answer.

“Not yet. Something isn’t right with that wife, I just can’t figure out what,” Sally said, trying to pinpoint the origin of the feeling.

“She and her husband were on the rocks, but she didn’t say anything. And he wasn’t well-liked, next to no one liked him,” Molly commented. Sally looked over in confusion, and Molly elaborated. “Why else would she visit her mum? And there were sheets by the couch, so someone had been sleeping there recently. There were photos all over the flat of her and her friends, but none of him with his, just of him alone.” Molly shrugged, but Sally smiled.

“Good catch, Molly,” she said. 

“Hang around Sherlock long enough, you start to pick things up,” Molly said, shrugging again. That made Sally frown a bit.

“I think you’ve got to be clever in the first place. After all, Holmes didn’t walk you through that. You got there on your own,” Sally said firmly.

Molly flushed but smiled. “So, where are we going next?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Next step is coffee. Then, stakeout.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cue crime solving montage* I'm anticipating maybe two more chapters, possibly three. Should be done quickly though!

**Author's Note:**

> I LOVE MOLLY HOOPER SO MUCH OKAY I'M SO HAPPY TO GET TO WRITE MORE OF HER
> 
> I don't know how I feel about Sally. She ticks me off sometimes, but I've got these really emotional headcannons about her. So. Prepare for feels.


End file.
